Education Building

Below: Peterson Hall

(formerly Education Bldg.)

Peterson Hall

History

1916. The original Education Building opens. Designed by Ellis F. Lawrence, it is now Peterson Hall.
1921. University High School (Education Building). Architect: Lawrence & Holford.
Construction began in Sept. 1920 and ended the next March. This lab school for educating teachers became a high school when it relocated from the 1916 Education Building to its new structure at the same time that the School of Education relocated to its adjacent new building. In 1953 the School took over the building for classroom use. An open-air gym was once attached to the structure.
1921. Education Building. Architect: Lawrence & Holford.
Construction ended in April 1921 for this work which replaced the 1916 Education Bldg (Peterson Hall) as home for the School. The Education ensemble included University High School and an open-air gym organized around a courtyard.
1980. Education Addition (South Bldg, courtyard, covered walkway). Architect: Martin Soderstrom Matteson. Builder: John T. Moody & Sons.
The building, whose design work began in 1978, represented the first project on campus to use the 'pattern language' approach to design developed by Christopher Alexander in his books, The Oregon Experiment (1975), A Pattern Language (1977), The Timeless Way of Building (1979). The building includes a commons and scholar's walk, once traditional in academic buildings. The principal architect, Will Martin (a UO graduate), designed Portland's Pioneer Courthouse Square, which opened in 1984. Martin died in a plane crash that year.

Bibliography

Archives & Drawings

Consult the Guide to Architectural Materials in Special Collections for holdings on Ellis F. Lawrence.

Books and Parts of Books

Ellis F. Lawrence Building Survey. Full-text of this seven volume inventory which documents Lawrence's work.
Style & Vernacular: A Guide to the Architecture of Lane County, Oregon (Western Imprints, 1983), 52.